"You Belong to Me," Karen Rose

Pros: taut pacing and plotting; characters I want to see more of; suspenseful
Cons: large cast of characters with plenty of dark secrets—pro or con depending on the reader (see review)
Rating: 5 out of 5

Review book courtesy of Penguin Group

Medical examiner Lucy Trask is trying to help catch a ruthless killer—one that seems fixated on her, as she’s the one who keeps finding the bodies. As she starts to realize the link between her and the victims, she tries desperately to keep past secrets from the police, who end up investigating her as well as the killer. To make matters worse, she’s starting to fall for one of the cops, a detective Fitzpatrick. He’s kind, hot, and all sorts of great things, but she’s learned the hard way that letting people in is a bad idea.

You Belong to Me is the first Karen Rose novel I’ve read, and it definitely makes me want to read more! The pacing and suspense kept me glued to my seat waiting to see what would happen next, and even though I was able to guess the bad guy relatively early on, this is one of those books where that didn’t lessen my enjoyment of things. It didn’t detract from the tension of events, and although I’d guessed I couldn’t be sure.

I definitely enjoyed many of the characters; there’s plenty of personality to spare in here. I do have one conditional warning: there are a lot of dark secrets and wild pasts, so some people might find it a bit melodramatic or soap operatic. Personally I think it worked well, but it’ll depend a bit on your tastes as a reader.

The world came alive, and felt very visual and “real.” Naturally there’s some dark material since there’s a serial killer plot, and there’s also some sizzling-hot explicit sex, so it’s definitely an adult book. There’s plenty of meat to this thick novel, and I couldn’t put it down until I’d finished it. Apparently this is the first book in a new series, and I for one am definitely looking forward to more!